Watch Skolnick–one of the fastest guitar players in the world–show off his shredding skills and more on the new episode of 'Metalhead To Head'

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5/27/14

Metalhead To Head returns this week with a new episode featuring Stryper vocalist/guitarist Michael Sweet and Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick. Check out Part 1 of the episode above and Part 2 below!

Sweet and Skolnick–who note that they haven't seen each other since the late '80s–get into plenty of back-and-forth discussions about bands doing cover songs and cover albums, re-recording their earlier material for better production value, the process of bands breaking up and more. Sweet goes into the nuances of Stryper being portrayed as a Christian band–"I don't like being called a Christian band; we're a rock band made up of Christians," he says–and how they have managed to shed that stereotype a bit and keep up with the rest of the rock and metal world.

Meanwhile, Skolnick, who is considered one of the fastest guitar players in the world, demonstrates his shredding skills and offers advice on how different scales can be played. "There needs to be a balance if you're going to shred," he says, noting that it should be used as a way to embellish a melody.

Skolnick is working on an acoustic album and is in the "infantile stages" of writing riffs for a new Testament record. Sweet released a new solo album and book on May 6–check those out here.